Jane Bayes

Women Redefining Modernity and Religion in the Globalized Context

To answer or attempt to explain some of the questions posed in chapter 1, such as why some Catholics have united with some Muslims to oppose equal rights for women, why some groups of men and especially women keep emphasizing male-female differences rather than gender egalitarianism, and why women’s status, especially their sexuality, has become such a focus of attention especially in nationalist and ethnonationalist religious contexts, we concentrate in this chapter on three topics or issues to provide background and insight. The first topic is how the Catholic and Muslim religions recognize women. The second concerns the historical similarities and differences between Catholic and Muslim responses to modernity in different contexts. The third concerns the centrality of religion and spirituality to social change for women and women’s agency in redefining and transforming parameters of modernity and religion.

Comparable worth, pay equity, and public policy

Introduction Theoretical Overview Wage Inequities in Sex-Segregated Occupations Political Factors Influencing Pay Inequity in State and Local Governments Comparable Worth and Job Evaluation Implementing Comparable Worth: Some Case Studies Conclusion Bibliography Index

New Transnational Opportunities and Challenges for Women’s Leadership: The Consejo Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CC‐IME)

W hile other contributions to this symposium are focused on the multiple barriers to women’s leadership in the nation-state, the recently formed Advisory Council of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (Consejo Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, or CCIME) offers an opportunity to examine the leadership of women in transnational politics. Scholars studying immigrants’ transnational politics have noted that the emergence of new political state-migrant relationships has created an opportunity for political participation and new forms of citizenship for actors who previously have been excluded from political decision-making processes (Itzigsohn 2000; Goldring 2002). In 2003, the Mexican government created a new form of nation-state–led transnational organization, the CC-IME, which is an advisory council as well as a national attempt to organize the Mexican diaspora in the United States and Canada. In contrast to previous immigrant transnational organizations (Itzigsohn 2000, 1146; see also Goldring 2001), women are well represented in the membership and leadership of the CC-IME. Although further research is needed to explain fully this remarkable phenomenon, the CC-IME experience provides a fascinating opportunity to explore the potential for and the barriers to women’s leadership in the transnational arena. The CC-IME is a continuation of a policy shift that began in the early 1990s. At that time, over 20 million people of Mexican origin were living outside Mexico’s national borders, remittances were a growing and important source of foreign currency, and Mexican opposition party poli-

Future Prospects for Women, Globalization, and Democratization in North America

Proponents of globalization assert that market liberalization will lead to increased democratization. According to this view, the economic forces fueling globalization will not only produce economic integration on the continent of North America, as trade, finance, and labor move freely across national borders, but will also contribute to increased personal autonomy and well-being. The individualism that informs capital market relations will spread with marketization, gradually eliminating ascription standards, which fix a person’s place in the social order from birth on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and caste. Industrial production will provide increasing numbers of people with employment opportunities that enable them to break away from traditional modes of living and embrace notions of individual rights and self-reliance. Economic growth will lead to prosperity for all. The spread of the “achievement” standard will heighten individual aspirations and contribute to greater worker mobility as individuals move to seek better job prospects that will reward their hard work and talent. Moreover, growing notions of individual interest will foster the development of “civil society,” that is, the growth of voluntary organizations, which seek to promote the interests of their members. As these interest groups and nongovernmental organizations proliferate, they will make increasing demands on political parties and the government for programs that will benefit their members. Representative government, competitive elections, norms of transparency and accountability, and voter mobilization—elements central to “democratization”—thus emerge as a result of forces put into play by globalization and marketization.